


Spin the Bottle

by justagirlinabookworld



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 07:41:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6461701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justagirlinabookworld/pseuds/justagirlinabookworld
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not only had Annabeth Chase's long-time best friend and no-so-short-time crush forced her to a party this weekend, but he had forced her into a game of spin the bottle. Nothing could go right with the way this party was going, and the presence of Percy's new friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, didn't do anything to help matters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Round and Round and Round it Goes

Annabeth really doesn’t want to go to this party. And by that, she means she really doesn’t want to go to this party. Percy had dragged her to so many over their 16 years of friendships in their 17 years of life, and he thought she had gotten used to them by now. She hadn’t.

Percy Jackson is Annabeth’s best friend; her rock, her sounding board, her go-to guy. The problem is, he’s also the most popular person at AHS, and captain of the swim team. Annabeth, on the other hand, prefers her quiet nights at home. By no means is she the least popular person at school, or a pariah of any sorts, but she isn’t nearly as popular as Percy is. Still, though, even he was excited when he got invited to Jason Grace’s house. Jason is the best forward striker the AHS soccer team had seen in years, and Percy had been slinging a friendship with him for months. When Percy invited her to come with him, she couldn’t just… say no.

Her thoughts are cut short with the dooming sound of her Percy-specific ringtone. After confirming her suspicions of Percy being outside her house, she longingly glances at her bookshelf before slinging her purse over her shoulder and leaving her bedroom. Waving a quick goodbye to her father, Annabeth can’t help but smile when she sees Percy drumming to a song only he can hear on the steering wheel of his truck.

“Annabeth! I missed you,” he smiles as she hops in the passenger side.

“You saw me earlier today, you loser. It’s Friday.” Though she tries to sound flat, just being near him raises her voice with a happy lit and her lips into a content smile.

Percy brings a slight pout to his face, one that practically begs Annabeth to look away lest she give away feelings she shouldn’t have. “Still, though,” he says. “It’s been like, what? Four hours since school? That’s too long to go without my best friend.”

Annabeth chooses to say nothing, hiding her giddy smile by turning to watch the fast moving scenery out of the window. Enjoying the content silence, she almost forgets about the party until the truck rolls to a stop in front of what she can only assume is the great Jason Grace’s house.

Caught up in her thoughts, Annabeth doesn’t notice when Percy takes her hand to drag her out of the car and up to the front door of the house. Finally registering her hand in his, Annabeth pulls away from him, though her heart begs her not to. Percy barely notices, using his newly freed hand to knock on the door twice before opening it.

“Percy!” Jason exclaims, happily swinging his arms wide. Percy steps up to Jason to slap his hand and pull him into a hug that screams bromance. “You’re just in time, man. We were about to start a game of spin the bottle.”

Percy’s smile takes a mischievous glint to it, and he glances back at Annabeth. “You in?”

Knowing she really doesn’t have another choice, Annabeth consents, sitting down in a circle next to Percy. Percy catches the old style Coke bottle Jason tosses to him while he tries to round everyone else up. His eyes take on a determined glint and he places the bottle in front of them, spinning it clockwise. It lands pointed in the opposite direction of them. Percy frowns, and spins the bottle again. Annabeth tries to talk to him, to start a conversation or do anything to calm her nerves, but Percy seems intent on spinning the bottle, even though the game hasn’t started.

“Percy. Percy, what are you doing?” He mumbles something in response, but it isn’t quite coherent enough for Annabeth to catch it. He spins the bottle. “Earth to Percy, come in Percy. We know it’s dark in there but reports have come through of lights in the distance. Is there any activity?” She taps on his head, pretending to peer through his ear into his brain cavity.

Percy finally laughs and pushes her arm away, setting the bottle upright as the rest of Jason and Percy’s friends—Annabeth’s acquaintances—finish the circle around them. The game goes off without a hitch, Jason taking the first spin and landing a passionate kiss on Piper McLean that results in tussled hair and red cheeks. Hazel Levesque spins next, getting off with a sweet kiss on Frank Zhang’s cheek. Annabeth realizes with a start that it’s Percy’s turn next, and he rubs his hands together with a look Annabeth can’t quite decipher at first.

Percy places his hand on the bottle, twisting his wrist counterclockwise once quickly before spinning the bottle clockwise. Annabeth watches the bottle spin round and round, her heart pounding in her chest more than it should. As the bottle starts to slow down, Annabeth calculates how she thinks the bottle will land. And according to those calculations—which are rarely wrong—the bottle will land in the dead center of Annabeth Chase and Rachel Elizabeth Dare.


	2. Where it Stops, Nobody Knows

Annabeth waits with baited breath as the bottle slows down, but it seems like the world has slowed down with it and there’s nothing Annabeth can do to speed it up. Percy shifts on the floor, his knee accidentally knocking into hers. He immediately moves it back to where it was, but fire has already spread up from her knee and into the rest of her body. She can’t tell whether she wants to scream or cry.

Rachel, sitting next to her, seems to realize the same thing Annabeth has. She leans forward, her eyes caught on the bottle spinning around and around, passing each person and maybe stealing a bit of their soul too, from Annabeth’s point of view.

Frank. Jason. Hazel. Percy.

Annabeth.

It starts leaning towards Rachel and then…

Stop.

And it’s pointed exactly where Annabeth expected it to be. Percy let’s out a big sigh, and Annabeth sneaks a glance at him, not understanding the disappointed look on his face. Percy says nothing, furrowing his brows and turning towards Jason with a questioning glance.

“Uh,” Jason begins. “This hasn’t actually happened to me before. I guess you can just… choose whoever you want?”

“No!” Piper exclaims, excited for the drama. “No, there’s a much better thing we can do here. You three, stay here. The rest of us will be right back.”

Jason stands up with a slightly confused expression, but follows Piper along with everyone else except for Rachel, Percy, and Annabeth. She looks to Percy, who starts to make a joke, but is interrupted by loud laughter and exclamations from outside of the room. Rachel shifts nervously, accompanying it with tense chuckling. Much to Annabeth’s dismay, Rachel only gets louder, causing Percy to join in with her. Before she knows it, the three of them are laughing hard. The side-hurting, cheeks-cramping type of laughter that’s only inspired by petrifying fear or insane mirth.

Piper leads the pack back in, then, an excited smirk covering her face. “Rachel, Annabeth, come with me. Leo had this insane idea, and we’re going to try it.”

As she follows Piper out of the room, Annabeth throws a worried glance over her shoulder at Percy. He shrugs his shoulders in response, turning to talk to Jason and Frank. Stopping with Rachel and Piper, Annabeth tries to understand how extravagant of an idea Leo could’ve possibly come up with to figure out who Percy was going to kiss.

“Here’s the plan,” Piper tells them, gesturing to the two doors behind her. “You guys are each going to pick one of these doors, and then go inside. Then we’re going to get Percy to come out here, and he’s going to randomly pick one of these doors. Whosever door he picks is the lucky gal he gets to kiss.”

Annabeth’s mouth goes dry, but Rachel smiles wide. “I’m in,” she laughs. “Let’s do this.” With that, she steps around Piper, picking one of the identical doors. Piper raises her eyebrows at Annabeth, then wraps her hand around the knob of the other door, opening it and gesturing for Annabeth to step inside. Swallowing her regrets of having not picked a nice date with her new book, she steps into the closet, turning around to face Piper.

“I’m rooting for you,” Piper whispers quickly. Leaving no time for Annabeth to comprehend what just happened, Piper closes the door. Annabeth stretches her arms out, measuring the dimensions of the closet. Knowing she needs something to do to keep her sane while Piper shouts for Percy to come into the hallway, she decides the closet is probably 6 feet across and only a few feet wide.

Thinking more about what Piper said before shutting the door, Annabeth’s heart beats faster and faster, until she swears Percy would be able to hear it and know it was her. After all, her heart belongs to him, so why wouldn’t he know what it sounds like?

Don’t be stupid, Annabeth tells herself. Percy doesn’t like you like that. And you don’t like him either. You don’t. He’s your best friend. Just your best friend.

Annabeth holds her breath when she hears what must be Percy’s loud, confident steps stand in front of her door. Or… Is it Rachel’s? She can’t tell, and it pisses her off to no extent that she feels so helpless, so needy, so in love with this boy. But then the doorknob to her closet jostles the tiniest bit as someone puts their hand on it from the other side, and Annabeth knows exactly where Percy is standing. She breathes in sharply, but then hears the unmistakable sound of Percy’s hand dropping from her door, and his feet moving a few spaces to the left. Hearing Percy put his hand on Rachel’s door, Annabeth fights the urge to sob, leaning her head into the door with an audible thump.

“No,” she hears Percy mumble. Before she can react, her door is thrown open, and Annabeth falls, surprised but elated, into Percy’s arms. The rest of their friends cheer, giving Annabeth just enough time to see who it is—Piper—that shoves the two of them back in the closet.

“Alright, alright! Give them their space, let’s go back into the other room,” Piper says carelessly, but Annabeth can hear the smile in her voice.

Realizing that her back is up against the far wall of the closet, and she’s still in Percy’s arms, Annabeth slowly lifts her head enough to meet Percy’s eyes. A piece of her hair falls in her face, and Percy lifts an unexpectedly shaky hand to brush it back behind her ears. He clears his throat.

“Annabeth,” he whispers. “You know we don’t have to do this, right?” She doesn’t respond, doesn’t know what to say, and so he continues. “They wouldn’t know. We’re… best friends. We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

Though it kills her, Annabeth draws in a big breath, ready to tell Percy that they shouldn’t. It must surprise them both, then, when she instead takes a step forward, away from the wall and further into Percy’s arms. They stand there for a minute, touching knees, hips, chests, locking just their eyes and not their lips.

Annabeth brings a trembling hand to rest on Percy’s chest, over his fast beating heart. His eyes close, and Annabeth has no trouble deciphering the look of pain on his face.

“Percy,” she breathes out.

“Annabeth,” he says simultaneously, her name falling from his lips to pool around them, surrounding them, suffocating them, hanging in the silence.

It’s that one word of his that has her suddenly lifting up on her toes, pressing her lips to his in a kiss Annabeth had only ever dreamed of. Percy’s arms, previously pressed against his side, hesitate for half a second before they wrap around her waist, pulling them impossibly closer, as if he, too, couldn’t get enough of her.

Finally overcome with everything she’s felt for Percy, she pushes against him until his back hits the closed door, her arms running up his chest to rest in his hair. She hears faint laughter from the other room, but all she can focus on is Percy’s hands roaming her back, her fingers in his hair, his lips on hers. It’s all that matters. It’s all there is.

Then there’s knocking from the other side of the door, and a joke shouted from someone that makes Annabeth worried enough to pull her lips from his, resting her forehead on his chest while they both catch their breath.

Minutes later, they head back to the room with everyone else, trying and failing to hide their red cheeks and wrinkled shirts, but Annabeth can’t keep the happy smile off her face. She’s sure, though, that half the reason it’s there is because she knows Percy is wearing one too.

Later, as they leave Jason’s house, Percy opens the truck door for Annabeth, closing it and running around to the driver’s side. Annabeth waits a full minute of content silence before braving the question she’s wanted to know since Piper made her get up, since she recognized that look on Percy’s face as determination to learn something and get it right.

“Percy,” she starts.

“Hm?”

“Why were you playing with the Coke bottle so much before we started the game? You seemed really focused on it.”

But he must know that she knows, so he just smiles, reaching across the console to grab Annabeth’s hand. He pulls it up to his lips to kiss her knuckles, then sets both their hands on the center console. And this time, Annabeth doesn’t pull away.


End file.
